6/22/2016 Bucharest, Romania (Day #1)

I left Seattle, Washington at 1:46pm Tuesday afternoon. I arrived at the Bucharest airport in Romania at 3:30pm the same day. Funny how when flying half way across the world a person can land in another country almost the same time they left 8 hours ago. Unfortunately, just like the Cayman Island vacation, my luggage was delayed coming in. How these things happen, I have yet to figure out. It’s one bag and as long as it follows the bag in front off it, it shouldn’t have a problem getting to the next destination, right? One would think so. My worst fear was finding out that my bag was left in Seattle because when I checked in I had to go to a customer service desk because my passport wasn’t scanning. That’s sort of what happened last year when I went to the Cayman Islands. But I won’t continue to bore you with lost luggage stories.

I met my girlfriend, Alex and her Aunt at the front gate and this was my reaction:

(Picture to come later. Check back soon…)

As you can see, I wasn’t too happy. After flying nine hours from Seattle to Amsterdam and sitting on the tarmac in Amsterdam for an additional 40 minutes and then a three hour flight from there to Romania, then finding out my luggage was lost. Yeah.

We arrived at my girlfriend’s Aunt’s friends house, Mr. Nic to spend the night and an extra day or two before we headed out into the country. They live in this beautiful house that costed them roughly $20,000 U.S dollars. It was absolutely stunning. They have this huge vineyard out front with a few fruit trees and this mean Belgian Malinois dog locked in a kennel for protection. The dog, (named Max) was let out at night to guard the home. Romanians typically have dogs to help them with things around the house or farm like guarding property, herding animals, and there is a stray dog problem in the country but over the years it has been getting better. Romanians typically don’t feel too emotional about dogs because most have them as farm dogs and they aren’t as connected to them as Americans are to their dogs. Americans typically have them as pets and consider them part of the family. I’m not saying Romanians are mean to dogs or hate them, but it’s just a different relationship. So the stray dog population had grown out of control because there wasn’t much control over breeding. But like I said, they are taking action now and things are a lot better.

After getting home, we had a huge pan full of meat for dinner…

…and let me tell you. This meat is 100% organic, straight from the farm to the butcher to the house to our stomachs. There is no heavy processing or added chemicals or fillers. Its pure meat and it was very tasty.

The next day we headed into the city of Bucharest. Romania used to be under heavy communistic rule and a lot of the landscape still shows the remanence of that era. It’s extremely interesting and depressing at the same time because Romania, after communism ended, a lot of things changed and not necessarily for the better, (but we will get into that later).

Communism ended in December of 1989. If you’re a history buff, you’d know that communism was forced upon a lot of these smaller countries in Europe by Russia. Romania had originally backed Germany during World War one but switched sides to back Russia part way through. During the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact (the German/Soviet non-aggression pact) kicked Romania leaders out of the meeting and thus forced communism on the country. Basically, Germany and the Soviet Union said, “these smaller countries can’t beat us in war so let’s just split them all up”. It was more than just Romania effected by this. There’s a lot to read on this and it’s pretty interesting.

Things like the trolley system and apartment buildings are still occupied by Romanian’s today. We used the trolley to go from the place we were staying to the modern era mall:

You can see the old apartments in the background behind the trolley. They look horrible on the outside but they are very nice and clean on the inside. The trolley’s have no air-conditioning so during the summer time it’s extremely hot and muggy when it’s 90 degrees or more. And during the winter time, there is no heat. So it’s very, very cold. Romania may give the appearance that it’s a poor country but it’s actually a very healthy and beautiful country.

That evening we drove to Cismigiu Park where I proposed to my girlfriend of almost five years. It was the most stunning, most wonderful part of the trip so far:

I wanted to make it a once-in-a-life-time thing. My girlfriend, Alex, (now fiancé) was born in Romania and her mother took her to this park many times when she was a child. They moved to the United States when she was five for a better life. So coming back with her to meet her family was very important for the both of us and asking her to marry me in her home country was equally important.

After our memorable moment in the park, we walked to the Monte Carlo restaurant. The dinner was a celebration of the marriage proposal by one of Alex’s family members; Aunt Lilly. There was a lot to eat…

…and drink:

Plus a stunning view of the nearby lake…

…and then, of course desert:

On our way home, we stopped at a statue in Bucharest. The statue was of Mihai Viteazul (Michael the Brave) on the back of a horse…

…and he was one of Romanian’s greatest heroes dating back to the 1500’s.

After visiting one of the most iconic statues in Bucharest, we bummed around the mall and bought a bunch of new clothing for me since the airline had left my bag in Amsterdam. The U.S dollar is very strong in Romania so a $100.00 goes a long way. We bought four shirts, one pair of shorts, one pair of shoes, four pair of socks, three underwear, one toothbrush, one toothpaste, one thing of deodorant, one pajamas set and shaving cream with a razor all for about $300 Lei. Which translates to about $75 dollars. Pretty amazing. So if you ever plan to travel to Romania, it’s fairly cheap with U.S dollars.

Blogs I Follow

I grew up a Yankee fan, I favor Pitchers whenever possible, I am a stathead, and my dream job is to be a GM for an MLB franchise. In the summer, I go to MLB games and catch baseballs. In the winter, I write about what teams are doing to get better or worse. I try to be positive and unbiased in my writing, but that isn't always possible when evaluating teams truthfully.

I’m an Oakland Athletics Season Ticket holder and sit in Section 149 of the Right Field Bleachers. I love going to Major and Minor League baseball games and snagging balls, which I began to do in 2011. To date, I've snagged 165 Minor League Baseballs and 185 Major League Baseballs.

Thought processes and conversations started under the tilted cap of Tropicana Field. Someday everyone will know the Rays play in St. Petersburg, Florida, not TAMPA, or the fictitious city of TAMPA BAY.